Austin's Morning News

Cheerleaders' Bible banner suit heads to Texas Supreme Court

A group of high school cheerleaders from southeast Texas asked the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to rule on whether banners emblazoned with Bible verses that they display at football games is protected free speech.

The cheerleaders had filed a lawsuit against the Kountze School District after it had initially said the Christian-themed banners could not be displayed following a complaint by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in 2012 that sought to have them banned. The district later allowed the banners, but said it retained the right to restrict their content as it viewed them not as private speech but as government speech.